Shoot more, talk less

This article on The Luminous Landscape nailed how I feel about photography forum "battles" on gear.

While debates and discussions are, generally, a good thing, I have noticed that usually the talk turns to one side "demanding" proof in hard numbers, statistics, scientific white papers and engineering specs, while the other side of the debate speaks of "usable dynamic range" "tonality" or "microcontrast". The debate rages, some are convinced, some dig in their heels and yet others laugh the whole thing off. In the end, the discussion quiets for a little while and then starts again with slightly different subject line. The proponents of "scientific proof" ask once again for raw images, 100% crops and a slew of charts and graphs. The "artistic" camp counters with "I know what I know, and I'm telling you its better". Neither side is satisfied and we continue.

There is always one thing that stands out for me: the people who spend all this time talking about gear are not shooting with it. Be it those who demand 100% crops, or those who insist the eyes have it and prints mean everything, they are having an argument on the internet and not shooting.

Which is why I only visit the buy-n-sell sections of photography forums now. I refuse to be drawn into measuring a digital camera online; I'd rather go out there and shoot. If you find yourself wondering about specific performance metrics more than the results, and spending so much time worrying about it, go grab your camera, get out there, and shoot. Remind yourself why you are shooting and why you love shooting, because I doubt anyone picked up photography to debate the virtues of the latest digital SLR/camera on a photography forum.

If you did, I'm sorry, carry on. And this post could just as well be titled as "Why I don't visit photography forums any more".